Last Sunday, we spent the day looking for birds, waterfowl mainly, and taking advantage of the sunshine for some photography. We had done the Audubon Christmas Bird Count with an expert covering the area around Toledo, and decided to return there. Later in the day, we went to Yaquina Bay in Newport, close to the ocean. From there we headed south stopping at Seal Rock and the port of Waldport.
Yaquina Bay about 6 miles from the ocean, and 2 miles west of Toledo.
At our first stop, this female Bufflehead scrambled out of the rocks and into the water. The neck injury wasn't apparent until I enlarged the photo on the computer. She was probably cold and came ashore. A bare patch of skin the size of a dime can be fatal to waterfowl due to heat loss.
Belted Kingfisher
Great Blue Heron
Female Hooded Merganser with prey.
A flock of Mallards.
Red-tailed Hawk
Dunlin, I believe.
A flock of Dunlin, I believe.
Female Hooded Merganser.
Female Bufflehead.
Female Ring-necked Duck.
3 male Hooded Mergansers and a male Bufflehead.
Male Bufflehead.
More Dunlin, I think.
A flock of dabbling American Wigeons.
The waterfront park in Toledo. In the center of town is a huge mill that turns logs into cardboard - a smelly operation. In spite of this, there is a lot of bird life in the area.
2 male Buffleheads on the left, and a female on the right.
A Spotted Sandpiper, I believe.
Bufflehead landing.
Western Grebes.
Common Loon
Great Blue Heron
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Great Egret
Male Common Goldeneye.
Canada Goose bathing.
The duck with the red head is an Eurasian Wigeon, a rare visitor from Eurasia. He is with female wigeons that could be Eurasian, but more likely American Wigeons.
Pied-billed Grebe
Male Ring-necked Duck. the neck ring is very faint, but the ring around the bill is not. A misnamed duck!
2 male Ring-necked Ducks fighting while 2 females look on.
The fight lasted until they submerged - maybe 10 seconds total.
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon subspecies).
Male Gadwall.
We went out to South Jetty in Newport. This view is looking under the Yaquina Bay Bridge into the port of Newport.
Looking the other direction is the bay entrance between 2 jetties. A week ago, the Dungeness crab fishing boat Mary B II capsized in 12 to 14 foot seas trying to make it over the bar off the end of the jetties. All 3 crew drowned. The captain had requested a Coast Guard escort, which had just arrived as the boat capsized. This was at 10:00 PM, with some waves reaching 20 feet. The other fishing boats made it in earlier in the afternoon to beat the fast rising swell.
Up periscope!
Common Loon
Female Common Goldeneye.
Horned Grebe
A flock of Surf Scoters
Red-throated Loon
Pretty surf on the other side of North Jetty.
Seal Rock State Park was looking inviting, but few birds of note.
Seal Rock rocks and surf. Next stop, Waldport.
Male Hooded Merganser.
Male Red-breasted Merganser.
Female Hooded Merganser with fish.
Female Hooded Merganser sporting a stylish haircut.
Well that does it. I took 609 photos, most of which had bad lighting or had subjects too far away. It was fun having some new sightings such as Canvasback ducks, the Eurasion Wigeon, and the Red-breasted Merganser. The ducks are in their breeding plumage now, making for some great color combinations.
2 comments:
Very nice assortment of bird pictures! Such a picturesque shot of that Kingfisher.
Amazing. So much bird life!! The Dunlin have real personality, if you ask me. I hope the Bufflehead female does okay.
I loved the pic of the blue heron, too, looking like some kind of hobo!
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